Allen, 23, wasn’t slated to play for the Blues last season. The goal was supposed to belong to Jaroslav Halak and Brian Elliott but, thanks to a combination of injuries and ineffective play, Allen was given a chance to start and he took advantage, posting a 9-4-0 record with a 2.46 GAA and .905 save percentage.

The Blues are expected to go back to the Halak-Elliott timeshare this season, however, meaning Allen will likely open the year with AHL Chicago.

“I can control what I can control,” Allen said. “I can control how well I play and how bad I play, to be honest, and right now I’m just trying to play as well as I can. The decision is up to the management, but I want to prove that I’m here to stay here.

“But you’ve got to look at it in realistic terms too.”

The interesting subplot is if — or when — St. Louis calls on Allen during the season.

The club has high hopes for a Stanley Cup run and won’t allow the effort to be derailed by poor goaltending. Should either Halak or Elliott falter, there’s a good chance the club would make a change.

As the Columbus Blue Jackets keep rolling, the Detroit Red Wings are probably just happy to get Friday behind them.

For the second straight game, the Blue Jackets beat their opponent 4-1.

They’re now on a five-game winning streak, and like the climbing St. Louis Blues, things look great if you go back a little further. They’re 10-1-2 in their last 13 games and 13-2-3 since November began.

The New Jersey Devils have been incredibly difficult to beat at home. Lately, the St. Louis Blues have been on a roll just about anywhere.

On Friday night, the Blues were the hotter team, handing the Devils their first home loss in regulation in 2016-17. And it wasn’t particularly close, with St. Louis winning 4-1.

It’s a convenient time to note that the Blues rank among the hottest teams in the NHL. Most recently, they’re 5-1-1 in their last seven games, but they’ve been especially impressive since they flirted with .500 at 7-6-3. Beginning with a 4-1 win against the Buffalo Sabres on Nov. 15, the Blues are on a 8-2-1 tear.

This leaves them second in the Central with a 16-8-4 record.

That’s impressive stuff.

This 4-1 win was quite the showcase for Robby Fabbri and Vladimir Tarasenko, in particular. Tarasenko collected three assists while Fabbri scored two goals on Friday night. His second goal was particularly slick:

The Blues are right in saying that this was a pretty fitting opportunity to drop a “Holy Jumpin.”

Minnesota Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk has been the most difficult goalies to score against this season. Leave it to a high-level player like Leon Draisaitl to make it look this, well, “easy.”

Draisaitl scored his 13th goal of 2016-17 by capping this pretty give-and-go play with Benoit Pouliot. You can see the frustration from Dubnyk at the end of the tally, as if he was saying “How was I supposed to stop that?” (though probably with more colorful language).

Draisaitl came into Friday with five goals and three assists in his last five games, so he’s been almost unstoppable lately.